


Peaceful People

by apartment



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: And the Force is with her, M/M, RIP Carrie Fisher, She is one with the Force, in memory of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:10:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9083629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apartment/pseuds/apartment
Summary: Kylo Ren feels Leia's death a thousand systems away. Hux wonders if somewhere, the Force has written that Skywalkers are doomed to be orphans before their time. RIP Carrie Fisher. You will be missed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those who transform into the Force." -Yoda

__It has been three cycles and two hours since Hux last saw Ren. Those were very quiet days. But now, even after Ren strode into Hux’s quarters and made himself at home on the armchair, it’s still a quiet night in.

Ren is lounging comfortably on the chair, scrolling aimlessly—or at least, Hux assumes so—through his datapad, and Hux is going over a rather painfully long report from the outpost on Ilum. Neither of them speak, and it’s, for once when they’re together, a peaceful night.

Hux jumps, therefore, when Ren’s datapad hits the floor with a loud clatter, breaking the silence. Hux is about to turn a glare on Ren, but then he sees: Ren gasping, fingers shaking, lips parted in shock, eyes wide like he’s just been stabbed.

“Ren?” Hux asks, taking a hesitant step forward.

No answer but this: tears building in his eyes, a choked off sound of anguish, shoulders trembling slightly, body hunching over.

Then, Hux moves. “Kylo?” he asks, concerned, crossing the room.                                                        

Kylo continues making almost inaudible choking noises, like he can’t quite get air into his lungs. Hux, scared now, wonders if this is some kind of Force choking from afar, and looks wildly for a hidden assailant. Finding none, he turns back to Kylo and sees his tears, mouth open wider in a silent scream.

“Kylo!” Hux grabs his shoulders and gives him a hard shake, and watches as Kylo crumples.

Hux has watched many men break before his eyes—he’s been the cause a fair share of the time. But he finds no comparison worthy to how shaken he feels now, seeing Kylo’s crushed face.

Kylo does not ignore him, but he doesn’t acknowledge Hux’s questions, either. Kylo’s hands are now covering his face, but Hux can still see an eye: wide and shocked. Kylo stares into nothing. Normally Hux would attribute such glassiness to a Force vision, but Kylo isn’t meditating or silent.

Scared, heart beating wildly, Hux finally kneels next to Kylo and cups his face with both hands. “Kylo, please!” Hux asks, begs. He closes his hands around Kylo’s and tries prying them off Kylo’s face. He says, “Please, look at me.”

And Kylo does. He has the eyes of a lost, heartbroken man. Slowly, he allows Hux to clasp his hands and bring them down to his lap. Kylo’s cheeks are wet and his bottom lip quivers uncontrollably. 

Hux says nothing and allows Kylo time to explain. Slowly, after moments or minutes of Kylo staring at Hux and Hux staring at their interlocked hands, Hux hears Kylo draw a ragged breath inwards. He looks up and meets Kylo’s red-rimmed eyes.  

Kylo inhales again. Hux squeezes Kylo’s hands and Kylo bites his lip. One more deep breath and: “Leia Organa has died.”

Kylo says it almost as a whisper, like he’s testing its reality even to himself. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back towards the ceiling, breathing jaggedly and heavily. Hux is shocked blank for a moment, and while his mind starts racing, the foremost thought he has is for the man in front of him.

“Oh,” he says, stunned. Then: “Oh, Kylo.” Hux tilts forward until his forehead is resting on Kylo’s knees.

They are silent then, but it lasts for hardly a moment. Almost immediately, Kylo abruptly stands, shoving Hux off and causing him to fall backwards. Hux watches in horror as Kylo paces the room, breathing heavier than before. Kylo covers his face, then presses the heels of his hands into his temples, then clenches the top of his hair with a fist until its taut.

Kylo screams. It is a wicked sound, nothing like the others of Kylo’s rages Hux has heard. This is anguish and grief and disbelief. Kylo’s lightsaber flies to his hand and activates. He makes an aborted move towards slashing the wall, but instead throws the lightsaber roughly. It turns off automatically, hits the wall, and clatters to the ground.

Hux has not moved from where Kylo pushed him off to, sprawled ungracefully on his butt and elbows. He watches in terrified awe as objects around the room begin contorting. A lamp shatters and one of Hux’s screens cracks. A droid in the corner turns on only to be unmercifully bent out of shape, as if stricken. Kylo has fallen to his knees in the center of Hux’s room, hugging himself around the middle, simply causing such damage without purpose.

Then, Hux moves, crawling inelegantly towards Kylo. He, among the groaning and wrecked room, remains unharmed. He approaches Kylo from behind, but when Hux wraps his arms around him, Kylo doesn’t start. So there they kneel, Hux behind Kylo, wrapped in a tight embrace. Hux presses his forehead between Kylo’s shoulder blades and feels Kylo tremble as he breathes.

Slowly, Kylo relaxes in Hux’s arms. He sags: tired, defeated. The objects around the room settle, then finally they still entirely. The room is silent.

Finally, Kylo speaks. “It wasn’t… wasn’t like this, when—,” he trails off, but Hux knows what he’s referring to.

Kylo once told him that killing Han Solo had been, while disorienting, an act of loose ends. As if his tie to Han Solo was a thin tether rather than an anchor. Kylo's connection to his mother has always been noticeably more.

“It’s okay,” Hux whispers, placing a gentle kiss to Kylo’s back. “It’s okay,” he repeats.

Hux wants to quiet his mind for Kylo’s sake, but the more he tries, the less it works. The General in him, a part he dislikes now more than ever, can’t stop thinking about what this means for the Resistance and the Republic, and consequently the First Order. Another part of him searches fruitlessly for ways to console a grieving loved one. Another thinks back to the conversations Kylo and he have had about Kylo’s heritage and past. 

Once, Hux had asked Kylo why his mother meant so much to him when his father did not. “She’s my mother,” Kylo had said. Then, with an uncomfortable shrug, “She was more present than he was.” Then, with a vulnerable frown, “She cared for me.” Then, with fists clenched and eyes closed tight, “She’s my mother.”

Hux hadn’t understood then, but he thinks he might now. Above all, Leia Organa shared with Kylo the one think Han Solo never could, even if he had wanted to: the Force. It seemed the connection between two children of the Force, especially mother and son, could never be severed.

It is now apparent to Hux that even with distance, deeds, and a new name, Kylo Ren has always been Ben Solo enough to never be an orphan. Somewhere within him, within his connection to the mystics, has been his mother. Perhaps Kylo didn’t even realize she lingered still. More likely, he did, and it was the cause of endless frustration. Now, however, there is no relief.

“It’s okay,” Hux says, over and over. How else do you soothe someone when you will never understand the weight of his loss? The Force is unknowable to Hux.

Hux wonders vaguely if somewhere, the Force has written that Skywalkers are doomed to be orphans before their time. Now, he curses the Force, or whatever force took Organa and brought Kylo to his knees.

Hux knows Kylo will one day channel this pain into his power, perhaps making him even stronger. Perhaps now, without conflict within him, Kylo will be more stable, less destructive.

 _But for now_ , Hux thinks, holding Kylo tight. _For now, I will care for him._

Eventually, Kylo allows Hux to pull him up, onto Hux’s bed. Some of the metal is bent, but it holds both their weights when they lay down. Hux is not often the big spoon, but tonight Kylo curls into himself. Hux can do nothing but hold him, so he does. Kylo eventually falls asleep, exhausted and drained. Hux combs Kylo’s hair out of his face and brushes a thumb across his cheek. It’s still damp, but now, at least, Kylo has reprieve from his sorrow. 

 _May the Force be with you, Leia Organa_ , Hux thinks, bitterly, sadly, perhaps even a little mournfully himself. Then he, too, falls asleep. They rest. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> I am so sad to hear the news of Carrie Fisher's death. She had been a role model to me since her time back in the spotlight, ever since I heard about her struggles with addiction, bipolar disorder, and of course, Hollywood. 
> 
> I have always admired her tenacity in the face of such adversity, and I stand by my opinion that there was no one better to be our General Princess Leia Organa. Leia's Force sensitivity manifests through her unbreakable spirit, and Carrie Fisher left us with no question about what such resilience looked like. 
> 
> RIP Carrie Fisher. She's one with the force, and the force is with her.
> 
> -
> 
> I am apartmented on tumblr and @inviq on twitter. Please come say hi! Carrie would have wanted us to remember her with good times, I think.


End file.
